It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Mega Man in action. 2010’s retro revival Mega Man 10 was the last time the Blue Bomber received a new release, with Capcom being seemingly hesitant to give the character a spotlight after the very public departure of Keiji Inafune, the iconic designer of the robotic hero. Since the launch of Mega Man 10, there’ve been many attempts by other developers to fill the void left behind; Inafune’s own Mighty No. 9 ended up being a crushing disappointment while new IP like Azure Striker Gunvolt showed fans that the dream could live on. Now Mega Man is back at the forefront with Mega Man 11, a brand-new release in the classic series, and Capcom has proven that it has lost none of the magic that defined many earlier entries in the series; make no mistake, this is a triumphant return to form.

The story picks up in the distant past, with a young Dr. Light and Dr. Wily arguing in front of a research grant board over whose research deserves further funding. Dr. Light — who’s researching the concept independent thought for robots — wins over Dr. Wily’s idea of powering up robots to be better than humans, and Wily leaves in a cloud of shame and anger, setting the stage for a life-long rivalry. Jumping back into the future, Wily digs up his old research again and sets into motion yet another plan for world domination, with Mega Man jumping into action to put a stop to him. As ever, the plot is hardly a central focus, although we were surprised at some point in how it touches on deeper subjects like artificial intelligence while also showing the shades of grey that exist between the ideologies of Light and Wily. You won’t find any Mega Man X-esque attempts at more focused storytelling here, but the plot does make an attempt to add more intrigue to the standard ‘Wily is at it again!’ song and dance.

Gameplay will be immediately familiar to fans of the classic series; you’re given the option of taking on eight robot masters across eight levels that can be tackled in any order, with the gauntlet of Wily’s Castle following on before the big finale. Right away, it’s clear that the development team did its homework on nailing down tight controls to give players the best chance at navigating the many harrowing and difficult obstacles that stand in your way before each stage; though the physics do feel distinctly different than previous Mega Man games, there’s a satisfying weight and responsiveness underlying all movement that does an excellent job of matching the pixel-perfect platforming of the originals.

That tight control is absolutely necessary to one’s success too, as this is a hard game, even by Mega Man standards. Insta-kill spikes, death pits, liberal placement of enemies in dangerous scenarios and quick boss movements are all par for the course here, but nothing feels strictly unfair about them. Unlike some previous Mega Man games, which struggled with cheap enemy placement or unfairly large sprites, just about every mistake made on your journey is squarely your fault. Aside from the notable trope of previously unseen enemies leaping out of pits just as you’re jumping over them, nearly every hazard and enemy is properly telegraphed to give the player a chance to react in time. However, if you’re new to the series — or just don’t have the quick reflexes to make fast decisions — there’s both a ‘Casual’ and ‘Newcomer’ mode below the standard difficulty, making the experience much more palatable. As you’d expect, Mega Man does more damage while taking less, checkpoints are more generous, and items in the shop are cheaper, making for an experience that doesn’t lose the feel of a Mega Man game, even if it sacrifices the infamous difficulty.

Whatever difficulty you choose to play on, new to Mega Man 11 is the Double Gear System, a fresh ‘overclock’ mechanic that notably impacts the gameplay without feeling too gimmicky. By tapping either of the shoulder buttons, you can either activate Speed Gear — which slows everything down to half speed — or Power Gear — which dramatically raises Mega Man’s damage output and modifies his special weapon effects. These can make an enormous difference in swinging the odds in the player’s favour, but they’re designed to supplement one’s experience, not support it, so a cooldown gauge is implemented to keep them from being overused. When a gear is active, the gauge slowly fills up and if it maxes out, and Mega Man can’t use any gears until it empties all the way. After taking a bit of time coming to grips with it, usage of Double Gear quickly becomes second nature, and it feels like an organic addition to the classic gameplay, sort of like the introduction of the spin dash to the Sonic series in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Rather than making a marked change to how you play the game, it smooths out the bumps at certain chokepoints and allows for a more streamlined experience.

Perhaps most importantly, the entire game can feasibly be played without once using the gears, but then again, Dark Souls can technically be beaten with a naked character. Stages are clearly designed with the occasional use of the gears in mind, but they implement plenty of smart hazards and obstacles to constantly keep the player on their toes. Memorable instances like outrunning a raging forest fire or dodging between a series of controlled explosions like an action movie star seem to be a suitable evolution of the 'put-up-or-shut-up' stage design the series has come to be known for, while the overall stage themes help to make each one feel entirely distinct from the next. From stem to stern, each stage is certain to challenge you with a plethora of unique obstacles, and the gradually ascending difficulty and complexity of these obstacles creates a sense of there being ‘acts’ to each level. It must also be said that stages are longer than those of previous entries in the series; they can still be beaten in relatively brief increments, but runtimes are generally closer to ten minutes than they are to five.

You’re sure to pick up plenty of bolts from blasting enemies, and these can then be spent in the shop for a series of upgrades to give Mega Man the edge. Here, Auto and Roll offer Mega Man consumable items — like E-tanks and Beat calls — and permanent upgrades that bring things slightly closer to the Mega Man X style of gameplay. Though they aren’t cheap, items like a faster cooldown for the Double Gear gauge or the ability to move at full speed when in Speed Gear mode can make a huge difference in how you approach some stages. Some may no doubt find the upgrades make Mega Man a little too overpowered, but we found that it added a notable element of tangible, optional progression beyond that of just obtaining more weapons from robot masters.

Once the credits have rolled, which should take somewhere in the ballpark of five hours, there’s still plenty to do beyond just rote replays of the campaign. For one thing, an in-game achievements system challenges players with tasks like killing a certain number of enemies in one use of the Speed Gear, or beating the game without using a continue. There are fifty achievements in all, and these go a long way towards helping the player approach the game in unconventional or extra-challenging ways, but the real meat of replayability is found in the Challenges tab.

Here, you can test yourself against a series of challenges that modify stages in unique ways, such as Balloon Rush, which removes all enemies and replaces them with dozens of blue and red balloons, or Jump Saver, which tasks you with clearing a stage in as few jumps as possible. Each of these modes is timed and has different thresholds for bronze, silver, or gold medals, and your best performances are saved and uploaded to a global leaderboard. Though these challenge modes all ultimately have you running through the same stages and fighting the same bosses from the campaign, they provide interesting twists that make them worth your time, providing a more arcade-like approach that easily makes this the most replayable entry in the series.

It must be said that those of you looking for a deep well of unique content will doubtless be disappointed at the relatively short runtime of Mega Man 11, but we’d argue that the focus of this series has never been on providing a lengthy adventure. Mega Man has always been about brief and tight design that focuses on challenging player skills in ways that few other platformers attempt, and in this regard, Mega Man 11 feels like the fullest realization of the concept yet, with the fleshed-out arcade mode acting as a worthy companion to the base game. If arcade sensibilities aren’t up your alley, we’d recommend you stop and think before picking this one up, but do bear in mind that there are dozens of hours of entertainment to be had.

In terms of its presentation, Mega Man 11 ditches the pixel art that has defined previous entries, opting for a 2.5D approach that has proven to be divisive so far among fans. The new art style perfectly captures the distinctive goofy look of the series art that has previously only been approximated by spritework. Characters and animations are colourful, charming and smooth, while details like advanced lighting and particle effects help to keep the visuals feeling modern. The looks certainly don’t appear cheap or half-baked, and environmental details like comets in the night sky or distant city lights from a village in the shadow of a mountain show that the development team was keen to create a distinctive and thorough tone which is well-maintained and consistent throughout your journey. What’s more is that everything runs at a smooth 60 FPS whether docked or in handheld; we didn’t encounter any situations where there were noticeable drops.

The Mega Man series has always been known for having some of the best chiptune tracks around, and though Mega Man 11 drops this memorable style in favour of a more modernized electronic soundtrack, it still provides plenty of great songs for backing your experience. We wouldn’t go so far as to say that there are any anthemic tracks on the level of the Mega Man 2 Wily Theme; this soundtrack is noticeably subtler in its implementation, but it picks up where it needs to when the action on-screen gets decidedly more intense. Considering the bar that’s been set, the soundtrack is the most disappointing thing about Mega Man 11 in how it merely satisfies, rather than excels.

Conclusion

Mega Man 11 is an excellent resurgence for the Blue Bomber, imbuing the tried-and-true classic gameplay with modern touches and new ideas that expand on existing concepts in interesting ways. The underlying action platforming gameplay is just as tight and challenging as you remember, and when combined with the new visuals and extra options for replayability, you’ve got a game that’s every bit as good as those that came before, while surpassing them in some ways. Mega Man 11 is a modern classic, a fitting refresh for a beloved series, and we’d highly recommend you add this one to your Switch library whether you’re a newcomer or you’ve been playing since the NES days. Bravo, Capcom.

Mitch has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he got his start on the GBA in 2005. When he's not busy playing games or writing, you can find him down at his local MMA training facility learning how to punish the unrighteous.

@ShaiHulud FYI if you really want the game physically on Switch and if it'snot getting a physical release in the UK, you can import a US copy since Switch is not region locked. Just putting that out there.

Really was not impressed with the demo but getitng this anyway because there haven't been many Mega Man games I didn't enjoy (X7 and X8 are the only ones that jump to mind). Glad to hear it's good!

@ShaiHulud I figured as much but thought I'd mention it as an option. That sucks that it isn't getting a Switch physical release over there. I'm actually surprised it is getting one in the US given Capcom's stinginess.

Megaman and a Nintendo universe are match made from heaven.
So welcome on the switch! Love it.
Now bring back captain N the game master. (Simon belmont, megaman, kid icarus, link) they're all back together lol. "Excuuuse me princess"

Makes me wonder what all happened to get to this point. I thought Capcom wasn’t wanting to make 10 and that’s why MightyN9 got made. So what’s with the change of heart? And did development for this happen after the MN9 disaster or before? So many questions that will probably never get answered.

Good to see this come out and good to see it being reviewed well. I tend to prefer pixel graphics, but I do not demand it. Mega Man 11 looks like a case where they modernized the graphics very nicely. I didn't see much to take issue with. Most importantly, the art direction appears consistent with the property. Overall, I like the way it looks and will have to give it a shot at some point.

Is the game worth £25? I know the game's getting decent reviews, but I never pictured a new Mega Man game costing more than £20 in this day and age. Mainly from the short length that all MM games suffer from.

In Canada, the game is going to be $40. Which is "ok" I guess, but I still think that this should've been a bit less. Like $35 or even $30. Unless there is a lot of content in there to make it worth the cost. Because with MM games, it never is a really lengthy game, as once you beat it, there's not a lot of reasons to get back to it, at least not right away. Unless you're the type who wants to 100% every game, as this one got in-game achievements, but I'm not, so...

I'm interested, but even if the game is very good, I'll probably wait for a sale. $40 is a lot for a game you can clear in about 5 hours and not touch again afterwards (even if its very good).

Wish they had gave this one a new sub series title and not called this mega man 11. It’s too fundamentally different. Previously when they did this they made a new Series, I.E. X, Zero. The game plays great, but it shouldnt have been called mega man 11

This is great to hear that this Mega Man game is really good. I was kind of worried it would be a disappointment like MN9. I hope sells well so that we eventually get to see Capcom resurrect Mega Man Legends 3.

Hooray!!! So glad to hear Capcom stuck the landing on this. Between Monster Hunter, Resident Evil and now Mega Man, it looks like the venerable studio is back on top of the world for the first time since the 2000s.

@TJWorks
I guess if you like Megaman it might be worth that price, but if you never played Megaman there are other better sidescrollers at a cheaper price IMO (including the megaman legacy collections )

@Realnoize That's what I'm saying. I imagine more cost when into the art department now that the game evolved into 3D rendered models and more exotic backgrounds (compared to the simple pixel art style of older games, excluding MM7 and MM8.) It would be reasonable to increase the price tag to make up for these costs, but not a huge jump. (I think MM9 and MM10 cost about £10-15 when they came out.) It's hard to swallow £25 for a relatively short game, and I don't know if I'll get invested into the other modes.

That's my biggest concern about the game. While the character designs are great (especially bosses) the environments are poor and undifferentiated – it's a shame that the 8bit games were so better despite limitations

I will buy it, because it's Mega Man. And my first Videogame was Megaman 2 on NES and I had so much fun with Mega Man Games when I was a kid, but I have to say that I was very disappointed of the demo. I don't like the new game mechanics and imo it looks not very good. Maybe it catches me later.

Played the demo, and I was very much reminded of the older titles that I grabbed on my 3DS-tough as nails gameplay, but still feeling just manageable enough to get through (while using the extra save feature for Virtual Console games). Given how Mega Man games aren't usually the longest, and all of the extra challenges and collectibles, the price seems fair. I'll grab it when I can.

I take back what I said, this is hands down one of the greatest mega man games ever...right up there with 2 and 9! The soundtrack in ways is truly reminiscent of mega man 8s in terms of atmosphere but it's easily better and more catchy. Acid, bounce, block ect really good stuff!

Hmm...I won't be lying here, I don't like that graphics of MM11 that so much, unfortunately....

Mega Man series is one of those games which I'm having a very difficult time of seeing it in a "non-pixelery" environment....Perhaps I'm just a nostalgic fool or that I loves gorgeous pixels in games waaay too much ?Mega Man Zero and ZX series were so bloody amazing, please HD-port them + makes new ones on Switch Capcom/intiCreates!!!

As a huge Mega Man fan, I can't say the demo "moved" me. There were things that hit me as "Ah, that's familiar" and "Oh! That's different!" at least. I'll always love this series better in 8-bit-- Maybe it's the fact it's polygon based and I haven't gotten my "feel" of it yet. I'm going to play it no matter what (psh, c'mon now!), so I'm not complaining. Gotta get used to these two-phase robot masters too. Bring it on.

I gotta tip my cap to Capcom (pun intended). They are really on point with releases the past year or two. I was pretty excited when this got announced and I have a copy on the way. I really hope this game breaks the million mark sold because Capcom kinda hinted at another Mega Man X game if this one does commercially well. That would be cool to see!

@JaxonH haha I hear yah! I've been falling back in love with Mega Man with all the releases on the Switch. It's really geared up my excitement for this game. I'm gonna try and snag the amiibo from Japan because I don't think it's being released individually in North America. The Gamestop exclusive bundle has been sold out for a while.

@Nintendofan83It came back in stock the other day actually. But it'll come back in stock later. Usually these end up being a timed exclusive for lunch so GameStop can cash in and then they sell it later separately or other stores sell it.

But you could order from Amazon Japan as well. I actually almost did that because I order from there all the time for importing games that have English (Okami HD, Onimusha Warlards, Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle, etc)

@JaxonH The Capcom Beat Em Up Bundle will have English? Does that mean English menus to get the game organized and set up? I'm guessing it doesn't mean in game English lol. I haven't bought the Beat Em Up bundle yet so perhaps I'll wait and get a physical copy. I'm thinking about getting the physical release of Mega Man X collection 2 on physical from Japan. That has menus in English.

@Nintendofan83I'm just banking on it, since all the games have the choice between English and Japanese. Not sure about the menus but the choice to change it language is right there when you start it up for each game

@Moroboshi876 That's where I'm at too. I have a Switch and Xbox One X. I've tried the demo on both and the Xbox One X's 4K visuals are hard to pass up. For me I don't play my Switch much on the go, which could be the deciding factor for some in that case.

I love the difficulty scale of the game at least from the demo with normal being unforgiving and tough as nails but a beginner mode pulls you out of pits and gives infinite lives for kids or those just wanting to play the story, but with an easier experience.

@Nintendofan83 Yes u are correct. It was playable after 1:00 a.m. for +2:00 time zones. I don't know which time zone I should watch for Greece, I thought that it is London timezone. But it doesn't make sense 1:00 a.m. seems more like Berlin time.

I've also read at Nintendo that some 3rd party games start at 12:00 p.m.

I see lots of people seem to like the Capcom support but me, not so much, my biggest regret purchases have been from Capcom, to be fair only one but its their Street fighter remakes though the Beat em up classics are so so as well, my brother got burned by that terrible MH game they released (i was smart enough to try the demo).

The Beat em up game is okay but online lags waaaay too much.

If this game disappoints me then I'm permanently done with all Capcom IPS...

I will NOT purchase another Capcom title on release again and this will have to wait at least 6 months before i give it a chance.

People say Capcoms support is nice, i personally thibk they need to go back to the drawing board, their attempts suck thus far.

And as far as cloud based games are concerned, both Capcom and Nintendo can shove those where ever they get pleasure from... I'll perm boycott Capcom if that becomes norm.

Haha, no. Did you even ay Mega Man 10 , where you could play as Proto Man and Bass, who both had unique mechanics? Didn't think so. No matter how good this game really is, it can't beat Mega Man 10, or even 9, in terms of replayability...

This game is excellent and really is a 9/10! Tundra Man for the win! After beating this, I may check out the legacy collections. I have truly enjoyed this game and the challenge so far and have 3 stages/bosses left.

ok, the comparison with Azure Striker is like comparing Sonic Racing and Mario Kart, seemingly very similar, but after getting Azure Striker because I wanted a Mega Man experience, I found it's nothing like, other than appearance being mildly familiar, I will get MM 11 eventually, (probably use Azure Striker at GameStop to get some credit towards MM 11 LOL